It was a tough first game for the Jacksonville Jaguars, who lost Week 1 on Sunday to the Kansas City Chiefs. More pertinent, though, was the loss of quarterback Nick Foles, the team's prized offseason acquisition who went down with a broken clavicle. In his stead, rookie Gardner Minshew had to rise to the occasion and lead the Jaguars offense, which head coach Doug Marrone praised in spite of the final score: 40-26.

Per Josh Oehser in the team's official site (h/t Jags Wire):

“[Minshew's] one of the few guys I’ve been around who can go from the classroom and really take it right onto the field,” Marrone said, “The other day was an unbelievable indication of that. I don’t know how many people – especially rookies – can go out not having done anything during the week and play like that. That’s a credit to him. The players know that. The players obviously believed in him from practice, but when you go out there and perform like that people have a lot of faith in him – the players, and that’s the most important thing.”

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Jacksonville selected the 23-year-old Minshew out of Washington State in the sixth round of the 2019 draft. After securing free agent Foles to a four-year deal in the offseason, nobody expected to see a redshirting first-year Minshew on the gridiron, but special circumstances required a new set of expectations for the signal-caller.

Minshew finished his debut totaling 22/25 for 275 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. He nearly out-dueled last season's MVP in Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.